I'll Make a Man Out of You
by Aloneinthelabyrinth
Summary: Four ingredients to be a man: Must be as swift as a coursing river, with all the force of a great typhoon, with all the strength of a raging fire, and mysterious as the dark side of the moon. Does Frank Zhang have what it takes to be a man?


**Disclaimer: ****I do not own Percy Jackson, or otherwise there would have been a musical made up about it by now. Also, unfortunately, I don't own **_**Mulan either.**_

_**Takes place before, during and after SoN**_

**I'll Make a Man Out of You**

_**Let's get down to business to defeat the Huns**_

Ever since the insignificant tremble of the ground, mid-summer 1942, the atmosphere became slightly denser, the birds sang less, and Ceres converted to number one on Rome's most annoying list, Mars sensed an enemy, Mars sensed one of his children would be needed; Mars sensed Rome needed a man.

_**Did they send me daughters when I asked for sons?**_

Mars always had his doubts about Frank Zhang, however one of the most notable times Mars questioned his son's masculinity, was when the juvenile five-year-old sang along to Disney movie _Mulan_, unquestionably complete with a remarkable dance routine.

_**You're the saddest bunch I ever met**_

Children usually laughed in the face of ice cream, Frank Zhang sprinted to the toilet. _Seriously, _Mars thought as the toilet flushed half an hour later, _this is one of the greatest demigods of this era?_

_**But you can bet before we're through; Mister, I'll make a man out of you**_

Supposedly, when a male legionnaire is sixteen, they qualify as an adult, fully mature, soldier worthy. However, when Frank Zhang hit his sixteenth birthday, and Mars observed the attractive golden-eyed daughter of Pluto teasing each other, Mars decided that Frank Zhang wasn't a man, not yet.

_**Tranquil as a forest but on fire within**_

Being a Roman, a soldier must have burning passion for war, not the same type of burning when Frank Zhang got hit by several fireballs in the well-popular Deathball.

_**Once you find your centre, you are sure to win**_

_Focus_, Frank thought to himself_, focus and hit the target_. He released the arrow from the bow and watched in awe as it soared soundlessly through the air, later ending in a thud where the bow hit the yellow centre of the board. Not bad for a six-year-old.

_**You're a spineless, pale pathetic lot**_

When making his grand entrance to Camp Jupiter, Mars couldn't help but acknowledge the spindly blond armed with a cuddly bear, who was bowing and scraping like a champion beggar; Rome needed more assistance than he thought.

_**And you haven't got a clue**_

"Wait, it isn't cool to sing along to Disney?" Frank Zhang asked his fellow classmates.

_**Somehow I'll make a man out of you**_

After knocking down half of the artillery in Frank's first attempt to clean the armoury, he silently confirmed to himself that he may be on _probatio _for a while. Mars thought the same.

_**I'm never gonna catch my breath**_

Frank Zhang kept wheezing, spluttering and coughing after being chase vigorously from some Second Cohort legionnaires armed with _pilums. Great, _Frank thought, _I sound like a seal with a throat infection._

_**Say good-bye to those who knew me**_

The Roman Legion can effortlessly look somewhat daunting, especially when Frank Zhang was up for recruit, and he watched the legionnaires eyes bore into him, like a starving wolf assessing its prey.

_**Boy, was I a fool in school for cutting gym**_

Frank Zhang was never the athletic type. To his dismay, wherever you were in good shape or not, you had to endure Deathball; similar to Paintball. Conversely, it is used with acid, poison, and fireballs as weapons, and is literally a survival of the fittest, hence the _Death _in Deathball.

_**This guy's got 'em scared to death**_

As Frank stepped into Camp Half-Blood, ignoring his dystopian thoughts, his eyes immediately fell upon a terrifying teenager, taller than most, with straggly brunet hairs, and if looks could kill – he'd be one of Medusa's victims. That was one scary dude.

"I'm Clarisse," the rough voice announced. _Wait, _Frank thought, _Clarisse is a girl's name._

_**Hope he doesn't see right through me**_

As Frank prayed to all the Gods in Rome that he could magically melt into the dirt when Mars claimed him, he hoped Mars wasn't listening at that certain point.

_**Now I really wish that I knew how to swim**_

Frank's first visit to the ocean was when he was three, he couldn't help but be jealous of the ocean, the way it was so free, and it had no Grandmother to claim it was a bumbling fool. Ever since that visit, he pestered his Mother to let him have swimming lessons.

_**(Be a man) We must be swift as the coursing river**_

As the chariot hurdled towards the unaware Frank Zhang, he managed to leap just before he was made into minced legionnaire. He could take the Huns down anytime.

_**(Be a man) With all the force of a great typhoon**_

Frank couldn't help the unnatural boiling in his stomach, and the slight tremble in his hands, as he watched Hazel laugh at Flaming Valdez - he wanted to release all the force of a great typhoon on the Latino Elf.

_**(Be a man) With all the strength of a raging fire **_

Sometime strength can be misconceived, strength doesn't always have to mean physical, it took a lot of emotional strength for Frank to simply get out of bed the morning of his Mother's funeral, even though it would be painless to sink back into his dreams and be absorbed in a world of fantasies.

_**Mysterious as the dark side of the moon**_

Frank assumed French was a mysterious language, due to all the French detective shows his Grandma used to fawn over. However when Frank asked Hazel how her beef was feeling today, not only did he give up the conversation; he gave up any thoughts of French being mysterious.

_**Time is racing toward us till the Huns arrive**_

Pouring over Annabeth's detailed war anthology, Frank knew Giant War Two, was just around the corner, and he was almost as terrified of the Giants as he was of the Huns, when he hid into his Mother's comforting lap.

_**Heed my every order and you might survive**_

"LEFT!" Mars' voice bellowed across the battlefield, over the aeons he had lost many children, Frank Zhang will _not _be included in those numbers.

_**You're unsuited for the rage of war**_

Reyna's lip curled, the panting, mud-coated boy, wasn't a Roman soldier. His bow and arrows were an unusual choice for a Roman and he didn't look suited for the range of war, especially with that baby face. Yet she was willing to give him a try; before all great success, is a great risk.

_**So pack up, go home you're through**_

Frank Zhang detested the legion in the first week; everyone would torment the disproportional, lumbering newbie, and once he considered to run back to Canada. Run back to the warmth and support of his home.

_**How could I make a man out of you?**_

As the exquisite Emily Zhang poked her little solider in the belly when reciting the family history, Mars wondered if he could ever make a man out of Frank Zhang. Not because he didn't have the potential, Frank was the full circle, it was whether Mars thought it was best or not to change the giggling little boy into a thick-skinned, powerful man.

_**(Be a man) We must be swift as the coursing river**_

The magnificent eagle, formerly Frank Zhang, soared through the air to save the half-buried daughter of Pluto, Mars couldn't help but be overwhelmed with pride and relief. _Finally._

_**(Be a man) With all the force of a great typhoon**_

The trio; Frank, Hazel and Percy, fought as if they born to battle in that particular game of Siege. In fact, they destroyed the First Cohort with more dynamism as the strongest hurricane.

_**(Be a man) With all the strength of a raging fire**_

As Frank Zhang charged forwards, his body becoming heavier, thicker, rippling with muscles. He crashed into Alcyoneus as a full-grown grizzly, a thousand pound of pure strength; the strength of a raging fire.

_**Mysterious as the dark side of the moon**_

_風 __Swift as the wind, __林 __Quiet as the forest, __火 __Conquer like the fire, __山 __Steady as the mountain, _Frank Zhang repeated his favourite quote from The Art of War to himself, as he scaled Mount Olympus - the original one. _And of course, as mysterious of the dark side of the moon _Frank Zhang grinned, whilst acknowledging the moon in the darkness of night.

**Am I the only one who imagines Frank Zhang to be similar to Captain Li Shang from Mulan? I regret nothing, and everything is beautiful and nothing hurts. **


End file.
